The details that will allow an indoor gun range to open in the city of Holland are still working their way through the channels at city hall.

The Planning Commission took a look Tuesday at the proposed ordinance that would allow the owners of Bullet Hole Firearms and Training to expand their business to include a six-lane indoor shooting range.

While the business, at 759 E. Eighth St., is in a commercial district, it is directly adjacent to a residential area, a cause for concern by some.

Owners Ben Phillips and Dave Burns have detailed plans — and welcome anyone to stop in to look at them — for impenetrable walls, sound deafening and bullet trapping they believe will keep the neighbors in the area from realizing the range is operating.

What’s been proposed, and likely will be up for a public hearing sometime next month, are changes to a few city codes and an ordinance outlining what would be required of a gun range opening in the city.

Right now, discharging a firearm in the city is illegal unless the person is a peace officer or in self defense. The change would allow someone to discharge a firearm in a licensed indoor gun range. Any gun range planning to open in the city also would be required to have a license from the city.

They only will be allowed in Industrial-1 and Commercial 1, 2 and 4 districts in the city.

Beyond that, the ordinance addresses many of the standards a new business faces as it works through planning with city officials, but an indoor gun or archery range also will need to have an impenetrable interior, no audible noise at the property lines, an on-site cleanup and filtration system for the lead and a minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet among other things.

Phillips questioned the no audible noise, saying even the auto repair shop next door to his building can be heard down the street when air ratchets are being used, the electric transformers in the area make noise and many other daily things happening in the area create noise.

“It’s all white noise in the background,” he said, adding after time, any noise audible from the gun range would be the same.

Members of the Planning Commission also wondered if the 28 parking spaces currently at the property would be enough to handle the added business of an indoor range. Phillips countered that parking is allowed on the west side of Paw Paw Drive.

Watch The Sentinel online and in print for notice of the public hearing.